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(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 1..

J. S. CRANE. KNITTING MACHINE.

No. 410,495. Patented Sept. 3. 1889.

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(No Model.)

2 Sheets-Sheet 2. J. S. CRANE. KNITTING MACHINE.

Patented Sept. 3. 1889.

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f I)!!! I a finalfly I' IHMH UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN S. CRANE, OF LAKE VILLAGE, NEV HAMPSHIRE, ASSIGNOR TO J. S. I CRANE& CO., OF SAME PLACE.

KNITTING-MACHINE.

SPECIFICATION formingpart of Letters Patent No. 410,495, dated September3, 1889. Application filed January 25, 1887- Serial No. 225,454. (Nomodel.)

To aZZ whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, JOHN S. CRANE, a citizen of the United States,residing in Lake Village, in the county of llelknap and State of NewHampshire, have invented an Improvement in Knitting-Machines; and I dohereby declare that the following is a full and exact descrip tion ofthe same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, making partof this specification.

My improvement belongs to the class of knitting-maehines in which aweft-thread is introduced into the knit fabric-as, for instance, when aplushsurface is to be formed on one side of the knit articles. In suchwork the weft-thread is ordinarily passed inside of two, three, or fourneedles, then outside of a single needle, then inside of the same numberof needles again, then outside of another single needle, and thus onalternately around or across the whole web. The effect is to presentmost of the thread on the inside of the fabric where the plush is to beformed and to show Very little of the thread on the outside of thefabric. In thus inserting the thread alternately outside and inside ofthe set of needles usually either the needles inside of which the threadis to be introduced are pressed outward beyond the general line of theneedles, or the needles outside of which the thread is to be laid arepressed inward beyond the general line of the needles, or both waystogether are employed.

The purpose of my invention is to avoid the springing of the needles andthe consequent breakage which frequently results from the repeatedbending of the needles in thus introducing the weft-thread.

My invention consists in a wing-wheel located on one side of the set ofneedles of a knitting-machine having a set of wings projecting from itsperiphery immediately over the needles which are to receive theweftthread on the side opposite to the said wheel and having a positiverevolving motion in unison with the needle-cylinder, so as always tohave its wings in constant relative position to the same needlesoperating in connection with a weft-thread feeding-in wheel or burrsituated on the other side of the set of needles from the said wingedwheel, which feed-wheel lays the thread over the opposite side of theneedles not covered or guarded by the wings of the wing-wheel.

I11 the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 represents a top view of acircular spring-nee dle knitting-machine with my improved weftthreaddevice applied thereto, the usual knitting appliances, except theneedles, being removed, in order to show more clearly my invention; Fig.2, a vertical radial section of one side of the knitting-cylinder andside elevation of my weft-thread device .in position thereon; Fig. 3, aninside partial View, in ver tical section, of the same, as in a planedesignated by the line 00 :c, Fig. 1; Fig. 4c, a top view of the device.

Like letters designate corresponding parts in all of the figures.

The drawings show the revolving cylinder A of a circular-knittingmachine provided with a set a a of spring-needles; B, a threadguide forthe weft-thread y; C, a feeding-in wheel or burr for this saidweft-thread, andD my wing-wheel, operating in connection with the saidfeeding-in wheel or burr. The feedin g-in wheel or burr 0, being set inan oblique position and having a'set of oblique feedplates 0 c, notchedin their outer edges to receive and hold the thread until it is laidaround the proper needles at the proper depth between the same, hasthese plates arranged in pairs or groups, the plates of each pair orgroup being severally at the proper distance apart to embrace a singleneedle (0 in the space between each two plates, and between the ad- 3'acentpairs or groups of plates there is a space wide enough to receiveone wing of the wingwhcel D, thereby causing the burr and wing wheel tomesh with each other and to skip one in terineshing of the burr with theneedles. The pairs or groups of plates thus embracing single needles intheir intermediate spaces cause the feeding-in wheel or burr to beregularly and uniformly rotated by the revolution of theneedle-cylinder. This feeding-in wheel or burr alone would not effectthe purpose of this invention, for if used alone it would of course laythe thread inside of all the needles. Now, however, the wing-wheel D isso located that its wings (I d severally mesh in between the adjacentpairs or groups of the feeding-in wheel or burr and reach far enoughbetween them to loop the thread around the outside of the needles whichthe pairs or groups of plates 0 0 respectively skip, while the thread isfree and in position to pass inside of all the other needles of the set.n Thus the purpose is accomplished in a simple and a perfectly effectualmanner without springing or moving the needles at all. The wing wheel Dis properly arranged with its axis in a vertical position, and itsspindle is preferably held to revolve in a long bearing g, mounted in afixed arm h, as shown, or otherwise in some convenient manner. Thewing-wheel is thus suspended in its bearing. The wing-wheel meshing withthe needles of the needle-cylinder, as above stated, would be caused torevolve by the rotation of the said needle-cylinder. To give ita moreexact, even, and steady motion, however, it has a gearwheel '6 on itsspindle to mesh with the needles a at below the barbs thereof andneartheir points of insertion in the needle-cylinder and where they arecomparatively rigid; hence the wing wheel is not only rotated steadily,but the needles are not bent or sprung in the performing of the work ofrotatingthe wing-wheel.

site wheel or burr performs the entire ofiice of i feeding in theweft-thread or not. 7 It is to be understood that in thus bringing theweftthread to the wing-wheel it performs, at least i .ing plates 0 c inpairs, substantially as specified, and a wing-wheel D, having wings d d,

meshing with the plates of the said feeding-in wheel or burr,substantially as and for the purpose herein specified.

3. The combination of the needles a a of a knitting-machine, afeeding-in wheel 0, havin g plates 0 c, in pairs or groups,substantially as specified, awing-wheel D, having wings d d,

meshing with the plates of the said feeding-in wheel, and the gear-wheel11 on the spindle of the wing-wheel and meshing with the needles of theneedle-cylinder, substantially as and for the purpose herein specified.

In witness whereof I have hereunto signed my name in the presence of twosubscribing witnesses.

JOHN S. CRANE. lVitnesses-z THOMAS HAM, BENJAMIN F. DRAKE.

